Putting greens on a golf course consist of well groomed turf that is easily damaged. The impact of a golf ball hit onto the green often creates a depression in the green known as a ball mark. Golf etiquette requires each player to repair the ball marks made by the player's golf ball.
The most common prior known tool for ball mark repair is a hand held tool that a player can carry in a pocket or in the golf bag. Generally these hand held tools include two flat, square prongs that are inserted at an angle into the turf under the ball mark and the prongs are used to lever the damaged turf up to the level of the green. These hand held tools require the player to stoop or kneel to repair the ball mark. The player may also forget to bring the hand held device to the golf outing.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,862,970 to Hlavacek discloses a ball mark repair tool that attaches to the handle end of the shaft of a golf club and has two extending flat prongs that are retractable into the shaft of the golf club. This tool works in a manner similar to the above described hand held tools with the prongs being inserted into the turf under the ball mark, and therefore the shaft of the golf club must be nearly horizontal when the tool is used. This tool requires the player to stoop or kneel to repair the ball mark.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,870,300 to Amendola and U.K. Patent No. 2,202,450 to Strachan disclose devices that are attachable to the handle end of a golf club to form a bunker rake. U.S. Pat. No. 4,854,592 discloses a folding device that stows in the shaft of a golf club and can be extended from the handle end of the golf club shaft to form in combination with the golf club a bunker rake.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,771,794 to Crockett discloses a ball mark repair tool that is attachable to the handle end of a golf club. The device of Crockett includes a body with two circumferencially arranged, opposed, spiral curved tines, a resilient tubular bushing, a pliable, folding, cup shaped guard integrally formed to the bushing and a threaded fastener that extends through the body and bushing. The bushing is inserted into the handle end of the shaft of a golf club and the fastener is tightened to compress the bushing along the axis of the shaft, so that the compression expands the bushing perpendicular to the axis of the shaft to lock the bushing in the shaft. The guard is folded back to use the tool. The tool is used by inverting the golf club and inserting the tines into the turf. The shaft of the golf club must be nearly vertical and must be rotated after the tines are inserted into the turf in order to properly repair ball marks with this tool. The pliable guard provides limited protection from injury from the tines since any significant impact to the end of the tool will fold the guard and expose the tines.